L'Hermitage Plantation
The Vincendière family was initially headed by Marguerite Mangan de la Vincendière, some of her children, and a relative, Jean Payan de Boisneuf. Marguerite's husband, Etienne Bellumeau de la Vincendière did not come to Maryland, choosing instead to establish himself in Charleston, South Carolina. Twelve slaves accompanied the Vincendières. Marguerite and Etienne's daughter Victoire, aged 17 in 1793, was responsible for assembling the lands of the plantation between 1793 and 1798 and became head of the family by 1800. By 1800 there were ninety slaves on the property, which encompassed 748 acres (302.7 ha) at its peak. The plantation was notable for its size and ethnic character; more typical landholdings in the area were much smaller, with no more than a dozen slaves, and were owned by German immigrant farmers. The slave population at l'Hermitage was the second largest in Frederick County, and one of the largest in Maryland. The Vincendière family may have been trying to re-create the large-scale slave labor system that they were familiar with in Haiti, possibly in order to cultivate labor-intensive crops. The Vincindières built many of the structures still visible at the site.
Read more about this topic: L'Hermitage Slave Village Archeological Site
Famous quotes containing the word plantation:
“Greece is a sort of American vassal; the Netherlands is the country of American bases that grow like tulip bulbs; Cuba is the main sugar plantation of the American monopolies; Turkey is prepared to kow-tow before any United States pro-consul and Canada is the boring second fiddle in the American symphony.”
—Andrei Andreyevich Gromyko (1909–1989)